April 7, 2008 - Researchers at Ecos, an energy-efficiency consulting firm, have built an office desktop that consumes up to 70% less energy than Energy Star-labeled computers. The researchers, with funding from the California Energy Commission s Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program, collaborated with chip makers Intel Corporation, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and Via Technologies to develop several prototypes for field testing. The hardware makers contributed their most efficient computer platforms, to which the researchers added the Windows Vista operating system plus hybrid hard drives and right-sized power supplies to further scale back the test computers power draw.

"The point was to design the most efficient system possible with the technology that is available today," says lead researcher Peter May-Ostendorp.

The computers were tested using the SYSMark 2007 PC performance metric, which established that all of the machines consumed between 40% and 70% less electricity than allowed under Energy Star's Class B computer standards. The most efficient Ecos computer consumed just 19 watts at idle, compared to the 65 watts used by current Class B computers.

The Ecos computers have sufficient performance to conduct the most common business computing functions, the researchers say.

The new desktops, which the researchers characterize as "market ready," would add less than $40 at retail and achieve payback within the first three or four years, according to Ecos.